NBC is sitting on a Lisa
Myers interview with Juanita Broaddrick, who claims she was sexually assaulted by Bill
Clinton in 1978. Broaddrick said she was told her interview would air on Dateline
almost immediately after she talked with Myers. But Dateline has two policies in
dealing with women tied to Clinton: those who threaten his legacy are trashed, while those
who threaten his enemies' reputations are promoted. Here's one clear Dateline
contrast:

Last Friday night, Jamie Gangel boiled down her 20-minute unedited Today
interview with Linda Tripp into a 13-minute attack piece. (See box.) Tripp was "The
woman who not only launched a national scandal but launched a thousand jokes. And the
woman who launched a wave of scorn."

A man on the street said: "I think she's manipulative." A woman on the street
added: "I don't think much of her." Then Monica's father, Bernard
Lewinsky, on
tape: "It's something that I don't know how she will ever live the rest of her life
knowing that she has so damaged a 'friend,' quote unquote."

Gangel repeated Tripp regretting her claim "I'm like you," with Gangel
insisting: "And I think America resoundingly said 'no you're not.'" Gangel again
bashed Lucianne Goldberg, "a New York book agent, political bit player and an avowed
Clinton hater." She replayed her final volley: "When all is said and done,
Monica's life has been ruined. President Clinton remains in office. The country has gone
through a year of scandal which many people blame you for. Was it worth it?"

On November 27, 1998, Jane Pauley awarded a much more sympathetic interview to Julie
Hiatt Steele, who, it could be argued, has betrayed her friend by first confirming
Willey's account of sexual advances by Clinton, then recanting. She even provided an
affidavit for Clinton's lawyers. (The idea that Broaddrick's decisions to recant, then
reaccuse Clinton of assault would make her unreliable for NBC airwaves did not apply to
Steele.)

Pauley began the segment: "Is it over yet? Will it ever be over? Kenneth Starr's
investigation of the President would seem to be winding down even as the independent
counsel is making himself more visible than ever. But tonight, a woman who says every time
her name is mentioned in connection with the investigation, she gets hit with another
threatening letter from the independent prosecutor's office. And for her, what began as a
favor for a friend may yet, according to her lawyer, get her slapped with an indictment
for perjury." Starr did indict her.

Pauley's segment had
no critical talking heads, no relatives of Willey, no Starr, no Michael Isikoff of Newsweek,
whom Steele is suing. (NBC relayed that Newsweek calls Steele's claims "pure
fantasy.") It was all about Starr: "Steele says Starr's investigators have
scrutinized everything about her so relentlessly, they've made her life miserable."
Pauley promoted Steele's most heart-tugging claim, that Starr was investigating her
adoption: "After her four-year-old baby died in her arms, Steele brought her son home
from Romania eight years ago...What evidence Starr's investiga- tors are looking for is
unclear, or is it evidence that the Starr investigation is out of control?"NBC
didn't wait to "lock down" that story before attacking Starr. -
Tim Graham

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